A Long Road
by Bestbuds55
Summary: No one ever said losing people was easy, but goodbyes still hurt. Sometimes, just knowing that you're not alone is everything. Beth goes back to her beginnings with Daryl as a strong shoulder to lean on.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Ever start and idea and then realize that you just didn't know how to write it or it just isn't turning out how you wanted it to? For everything I post, I think I scrap at least 2 others. On Thursday I'm going down to the court house with my class, it's kind of exciting! This is my second story Beth x Daryl, I can't decide who's my favorite walking dead couple. This story takes place after they lose the farm and have been on the road for about a month. I'm imagining it's sometime in December by that time. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a review if you can find the time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story itself.**

Beth looked over at Daryl, who was wrapped up in his poncho, and couldn't help but feel a tiny bit jealous that he wasn't shaking like a leaf in the wind like the rest of them were. Not that he had anymore clothes on really; he just seemed to be better at masking how cold he was, or how unhappy he was. It was weird, most of the group liked to spend their time complaining that this life was so much harder than life once was. Beth had never heard Daryl talk about the past once, but for some reason he seemed to always be just a little bit happier about life when someone asked him for help.

Beth always tried to not complain about the way life was right now, she was used to hard work from growing up on the farm and it had also gotten her used to get up early; her early teen years had gotten her used to running on no sleep. She refused to complain about things when her dad was still alive, when she had been able to watch her older sister find the love of her life despite the horrors going around. It meant that one day she could still find someone that would love her more than anything else in the world and would never stop searching for her if she was suddenly gone.

The group had been holding up in an old apartment building for the last few days, it had already started snowing and they weren't going to move until either those things drove them out, or maybe if they started starving to death. Until either of those happened, this place was a great place to get out of the cold. Not that they had much food, though Daryl had gone out yesterday and brought back a deer, and because of the snow, they were able to keep everything cold enough that it wouldn't go bad. They were going to try and make the deer last for about a week, or at least four days. Daryl needed some rest, he hadn't given himself a single day off from hunting since they had left the farm, couldn't afford to because most of the time him bringing back food was the only source of food they had.

Daryl was standing guard just outside the window and Beth couldn't help but think that he should really just be inside sleeping. Though Glenn was really sick at the moment, along with Carl. Lori was trying her best to be cheery, but couldn't leave Carl's side no matter how uncomfortable she was herself. Carl clung to her like he was a small child again and Beth could tell that Lori and even Rick was happy about that. Carl had been acting like he had been in this walker situation his whole life, instead of these few months. This was why children shouldn't be exposed to death, this was what happened. They turned cold.

Anyway, Rick had asked Daryl to cover watch for a few hours and Daryl had done his Daryl thing where he grinned at someone when they asked specifically for his help and then patted Rick's shoulder exclaiming that he had it covered and Rick should spend some time with his boy and his wife. Another thing Beth had noticed that on the farm Daryl hadn't gotten along with Lori all that well, but now that she was starting to show, he was giving her some of his food, and entraining Carl to make sure he stayed somewhat out of trouble and away from that harsh depression that he always had on his face when they were moving around. She had the feeling Daryl had cared all along, just Lori or anyone else just hadn't been nearly as grateful before. It was more than likely to be that no one cared if a dirty redneck was doing way more then pull his weight in attempt to keep them alive. Now it stuck out to everyone like a purple giraffe.

Beth went outside to stand by a still Daryl, who was unmoving even in the cold wind. It was freezing out and Daryl made it look like it was just a spring afternoon. She was already freezing and she had been outside a total of 2 minutes. Daryl had glanced over at her when she stopped beside him and just stood there. He looked confused to why she was out here, and that was ok because she wasn't exactly sure either. She just didn't want him to be alone, especially when T-Dog and Carol were watching back side of the house through the back door together. It wasn't fair for them to team up and then have Daryl do it all by his lonesome. She wasn't about to tell that to Daryl though, she knew very well that he didn't really want someone looking out for him, he wasn't comfortable with it. Why, she didn't exactly know, but when Daryl wanted to talk she wanted him to know that she would be there to listen.

She gave him a smile, but didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow in return, and even looked like he was about to say something in return. Then a scream came from inside the house, a whole lot of screams. Daryl and Beth turned to the house ready to run in at full speed when Daryl held his arm out in front of Beth. "Stay here, and keep watch. Can't just leave the shift." He shouted as he charged in. She wasn't sure if Daryl was actually worried about there not being anyone on post, or if he didn't want her getting in the way of whatever fight was obviously happening in there. That scream had definitely been Maggie's and she really wanted to check out why her sister had screamed when two gun shots fired. More screaming happened and a few sounds that didn't exactly sound human; Beth bit her lip harshly, had some of those things somehow got in the other side of the house? More gun shots made her heart pound, she didn't exactly want to run into the room if it had some of those things in there, but didn't want to just stand out here quietly either.

Daryl had told her to stay out here, but she couldn't anymore. That first scream had been her sisters, and she was more worried about Maggie then she was worried about Daryl being mad at her for leaving the post. Beth did something stupid that she later would wish she never had done, she entered the apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hey I'm back for another chapter. I guess you probably new that already though! This one is written in kind of a hurry because I have to get everything ready for a bake sale in a few hours time. Bake Sales aren't my favorite kind of fundraisers, but I do enjoy the baking part. Sorry for the sad chapter and all the character death. I like all the characters and had to do it for this story, so don't hate me please! Feel free to leave me a review if you have time, it'll make my day!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own the Walking Dead…**

Beth entered the apartment in time to see T-Dog gun down her father, who was obviously not human any more. Tears sprang up into her eyes and she felt herself crying in shock, she never even got to say good bye. Maggie was lying on the ground with a pool of blood around her and Glenn was not a foot away from her. Carl, Rick and Lori appeared to be dead as well, and she could see an upset Daryl standing beside their bodies. Carol was crying and had a large bite on her neck, it was bleeding harshly and she didn't look like she had a whole lot of time left. T-Dog wasn't any better off then Carol, large amounts of blood was pouring down from his stomach.

Daryl looked distressed, though that was all Beth had time to think before she dropped down to her knees and cried harder than she ever had in her life. Carol put a gun to her own head and then another gunshot echoed through the apartment. Daryl helped T-Dog lean again the wall before walking over and sliding down behind Beth. She was exactly sure what he was doing until he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her body to lean against his. He let her cry against him for what felt like forever.

Beth couldn't stop crying and she wanted to be able to, Maggie and her father would have wanted her to be strong, to survive for them. She had lost everything now; she was alone in this world. They had been so well off just an hour before, sure a few of them were sick and Lori was pregnant, but they were all getting by together. Now she was going to be completely alone, T-Dog was going to die and Daryl didn't look injured, but he had rushed in there so fast and he looked so pale when he had been standing over Lori's body. She wouldn't survive on her own, no matter how much she had learned, how much she worked; no one could survive in this world alone.

Daryl rested his forehead against the back of her head; it was comforting in a way that she couldn't even begin to understand. "Ya alright?" Daryl asked in his rough accent, his voice made Beth feel a tiny bit better, at least not everyone was gone yet. She still was crying though, she couldn't stop even though she really wanted to. "You're not allowed to leave me to." She managed to choke out between her tears and she could feel Daryl tighten his arms around her. "You're not gonna be alone, I won't leave ya." He was whispering directly into ear and it was helping her. He was close, and it was comforting, even though he probably was lying. He was even rocking her slowly back and forth, like he knew exactly what would help when you just lost your whole world.

Once she was able to calm down, Daryl helped her stand up and even let her hold his hand as they walked over to the dying T-Dog. He was breathing heavily and not even bleeding so much anymore, he probably didn't even have that much more blood to lose. Daryl crotched down beside him, and bit his lip, he was clearly upset that everyone was gone and just didn't want to show it in front of Beth. Beth swallowed harshly, she wanted to ask, but was scared to hear this might be the only opportunity though, "What happened?"

T-Dog looked over at her tiredly, he looked like in the few minutes of her break down, and he had accepted and was ready for death. She never thought that anyone could be that strong, though Carol hadn't even wanted to wait, she just wanted it to be over. If Beth had been bit, would she have been able to end herself with a shot through the head? "Glenn turned and bit Maggie, she screamed and no one knew what was happening. She turned right within minutes and Hershel was hugging her, Carl turned next, bit Lori and Carol and I got bit trying to pull Rick away, but he wouldn't go. Let his boy bite him, Daryl had to put them all down. Maggie got me as I was pulling Hershel away; he was already dead by that time."

Beth took time to take it all in, she knew they had been sick, but hadn't realized just how sick. They had died and it had resulted in everyone else's death, the only thing that had saved her and Daryl was the fact that they had been outside. T-Dog looked over at her and smiled at her with a hurt look present in his eyes, "You need to burn this entire take all supplies, put all the fuel and extra fuel into the best car and then burn it all. Whatever that sickness was, you should try your best to make sure no one else catches it." He looked sure to what he was saying and though Beth wanted nothing more than to be able to bury her very much Christian father, she knew he was right. She looked away as T-Dog nodded to Daryl and then Daryl put an arrow through his forehead.

She wouldn't cry now, she had just stopped. Daryl patted her shoulder as he walked by and she followed him blindly along as they started picking up supplies. They filled up all the bottles they had and packed up every piece of clothing, even the ones that hadn't been theirs. Daryl would probably fit into Rick's clothes anyway, and they could use Carl's clothes as rags. Daryl was getting the cars ready, putting his bike on the back of a truck and shoving the bags all around it. As they cleared the apartment, Beth looked back one finally time. They spread some of the flammable cleaning products around the bodies and lit it up on the way out. Daryl was driving and Beth was able to gaze back at the blaze that had been the building they had been staying in. This was goodbye to everything she had ever known. She promised quietly to herself that she wouldn't be a burden to Daryl; she would take care of Daryl just as much as he was going to care for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: It's getting so close to my first term exams and I'm kind of nervous, we've done so much work that I'm not even sure how I'm going to study for it all. Oh well, I guess that's a problem that everyone has. Last chapter for this short story, I really enjoyed this story and hope you did to! Feel free to leave a review if you have a spare minute, I'd absolutely love you for it!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own the walking dead, but hey, a girl can dream.**

They drove for hours with no real destination; they didn't really have anywhere to go. The place that they had been had been ideal, and warm, which was important. Daryl was driving slowly because of how much blowing snow there was around, it was really hard to see. Beth couldn't remember having this bad of a winter early on, the weather was worse today than it had ever been. In her farm days, Beth would have said that god was angry at the non believing people how inhabited his earth. Now, she could just take it as weather was just evil, and _a total bitch. _Beth shook her head a tiny bit; her father wouldn't want her to swear.

Daryl looked over briefly as she sighed deeply, and he reached over and placed and hand on top of her knee. He even squeezed it a tiny bit, and for the most part Beth found it helped. If they stayed in contact, it was much easier for her to tell herself that she wasn't alone in this horrible world. Plus, his hand was warm and Beth was freezing. She was wearing a heavy coat, and wasn't even in the wind, but could still feel herself shiver. The truck wasn't very warm; in fact they could still see their breath. Beth wasn't about to complain though, Daryl was just as cold as she was, he was just much better at hiding it and there was no use complaining about something that they really can't do anything about.

By the time it got dark, they were pulling up into a small town, towns weren't the most ideal place to stay but it was way more dangerous to be out in the dark. The picked an apartment building that had a second floor and with a fire escape that involved a latter. The walkers couldn't climb and barely had the ability to walk properly, so it would be an ideal escape route if necessary.

Daryl broke into the building which had been chained shut; they did their best to block off the entrance and any doorways they went through. This was the only way could get up, so the harder it was for them, the better. This place wouldn't be a good place to stay for long, but they needed somewhere tonight and it would be good to spend tomorrow planning and resting. Once at the apartment they had chosen from the ground, Daryl though down the bag that he had brought with him from the truck. It was the bag that held the most of his fresh deer and a few other perishables that they had collected as a group.

The apartment was stripped clean of pictures from the wall and any food left was rotten. This was a good sign that the people had left at the beginning, taking most things helpful with them. But the bed still had blankets on them and the shower had a few open bottles of shampoo and conditioner by it. Pans and dishes in the kitchen as well, stuff that would have been too bulky and heavy to carry with them. Beth was glad that they didn't have to look at or take down other peoples photos, she already didn't like invading into houses but she knew it was necessary for survival. She was starting to wonder if they should head back to the farm and collect everything that was just left behind in the fast pace they had to leave it behind. In the basement they had many canned good that would have fed the whole group for years, and they had seed for farm land in the summer. If just the two of them made it back there now and were able to set up a good tight perimeter, they would be set for decades, probably life if they could protect it.

Daryl was setting up a way to cook, using the largest pot to fill with things that would burn and placing another small pot on top of that one that would actually be used to cook the meat. He was cooking a fair amount, because it wouldn't last forever and they would eat heavily from it for this week if they could keep it from spoiling. Instead of a large group of small portions, now it would be a small group of large portions. Daryl let Beth take over with the cooking as soon as he had the fire lit. Yet didn't really have anything to do, so just sat by her and watched her work.

Beth couldn't help but feel Daryl's eyes on her, they were eyes of a man who cared for her and she wasn't sure she had even felt an intense stare like that before. It made her feel warm inside, like she wouldn't ever be alone, like she could trust him with absolutely anything. They ate together plastered up against each other's sides, and Beth couldn't help but wonder just how upset he was about losing everyone. She had heard that he had had a brother at the beginning and lost him right away, because of Rick it had sounded like. Still, he seemed to really like everyone in the group despite that, and enjoyed being there. Now he had lost that make shift family as well, now all he had was her. Poor substitute.

She found herself leaning against him more after the meal, neither wanted to move away from the small fire they had going for both light and warmth. "Wonder if it's anywhere close to Christmas yet, or even if we missed it." She found himself wondering aloud and only got a grunt from Daryl in return. He probably didn't care, but this was the first Christmas not spent with her overly large family. She would miss them. She would miss everyone she had ever met. "We should head back to the farm and try to set up a perimeter there again after we head out for this place, we had a basement full of canned everything and everything to set up a huge garden when the snow melts. We could set up a life there if we could protect it." Daryl looked at her during her little speech and looked a tiny bit confused, "Would ya be alright with goin back home without 'im?" His southern drawl was concerned.

Beth took a few minutes to take a few deep and calming breaths. "We would be way better off there with supplies, than out in the open." She knew she didn't exactly sound sure, but that was the best she was going to be able to do. It would be a long road that they would have to travel down together to get back to the farm and set up a life, with just the two of them it would be very much doable. They were both strong people who had skills that they could use to keep each other safe and even build a life together. They would make it, they had to.

Daryl didn't say anything more, just blew out the fire and took Beth by her hand, leading her over to the bed. They lay down together and Beth felt her heart beat fast, guess they would be sharing a bed then. She hadn't shared a bed with a guy before; her father had said it wasn't proper. It didn't matter now though, it was just the two of them and they were going to have to get used to one another. She kind of just wished he would feel awkward about it too though, because then she wouldn't feel like the teenaged virgin girl that she was when she blushed because of something Daryl did. How was this her life now?

She was still glad if anyone was left, it was just them two. Beth moved closer to Daryl and could now feel his front pressed up against her back. Daryl brought an arm up and hooked it around her and rubbed his face into the back of her head. "Go to sleep, we got a lot of stuff to do in the morning." He grumbled quietly. He apparently didn't feel awkward about anything and even placed a sweet kiss on her neck. "Ya don't gotta worry, I'll take care of ya. I'll make ya happy, we can be happy together."

She believed him with all her heart. The two of them together would do more then make it; down this long road they were going to be happy together.


End file.
